Cliff & Waterfall

Hey everyone,

I'm learning about landscape & nature photography. Any tips for this shot?

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

The first thing that catches me is the blown out sky. This would be a good case for an HDR image. You could also get it in camera by using a grad filter. You may also want to increase the exposure time a bit, which might blur the water a bit more.

Thanks. What's a grad filter?

Sorry, a gradiated filter. Think of dark on one end and light on the other. It allows you to have half the image exposed darker than the rest, thus keeping from overexposing skies, etc..

Beyond that, the image looks a bit soft. What were the settings for this image? Tripod or handheld?

Todd Lambert wrote in post #12113849
Sorry, a gradiated filter. Think of dark on one end and light on the other. It allows you to have half the image exposed darker than the rest, thus keeping from overexposing skies, etc..

Ohh, right. Thanks for the info.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #12113864
Beyond that, the image looks a bit soft. What were the settings for this image? Tripod or handheld?

I seem to have lost the EXIF, but it must have been around ISO 400 and maybe F8. I think shutter speed was fairly quick but less than 1/1000. Handheld with a Rebel XT and kit 18-55.

next time, find a better spot that'll capture the whole sense of the image, tone the shutter speed less than 50-100 to make the waterfall look better&flowy.
do it around the time when the sun isn't so harsh. practice makes perfect

Waterfalls look great with a low shutter speed - Tripod works the best in these situations!

What lens was this done with? It looks a bit distorted in the center; or at least the perspective is off.

Shoot at a better time of day, usually early morning or early evening to take advantage of the good light. Also, when the sky is dead and featureless (as in your photo above), its usually best to frame your image such the sky isn't in the frame, or crop afterwards...it only detracts from the overall image. And, as Todd mentioned earlier, a graduated filter held at an angle could have pulled back the sky and kept it from blowing out (or, the blending of two exposures, one for sky and one for foreground) might have helped. Either way though, the sky really doesn't add anything due to its blandness.

The image does appear much too soft..might not have been the shutter speed, perhaps just the focus was missed? There also seems to be some foul play with some PP (aka doesn't make sense in my brain); the moss on the right side of the frame, was it neon green naturally? It looks like toxic waste!

As far as composition goes, i tend to enjoy them when they're shot straight on. Just something about it makes them seem more powerful! Bring some water shoes or just barefoot that ish and try getting in the water next time! Easily a location worth going back to on many occasions

Thanks everyone for the tips.

I was trying to figure out what to do about the sky, I wish I had thought about doing multiple exposures. I need to look up a good tutorial on HDR, I have failed in my previous attempts.

As soon as I got down to the beach, and saw the waterfall, I knew that leaving my tripod behind had been a mistake

It was shot with the Rebel XT kit 18-55.

And yes, the moss was actually that color. Also, I did have a few versions of the waterfall shot straight on but I didn't care for them at all. I just liked this composition much better - it actually makes the waterfall look more powerful in this case.

Tanner, is this Sandcut beach? Witty Lagoon?

tanner07 wrote in post #12162542
I need to look up a good tutorial on HDR, I have failed in my previous attempts.

Look no further! (Click me) Read through all of this, take notes and don't fall victim to most of the atrocious "hdr"/tone mapping attempts out there

tanner07 wrote in post #12162542
I was trying to figure out what to do about the sky, I wish I had thought about doing multiple exposures. I need to look up a good tutorial on HDR, I have failed in my previous attempts.

Do yourself a favor and forget about HDR right now...its very difficult to pull off with landscapes and still have them display any semblance of reality. Basically, it takes a lot of skill to pull off, and a fair amount of processing time. A graduated filter or two will solve most dynamic range issues, and you'll be done with a single shot. No need for a lot of processing time. In lieu of filters, even the simple blending of two exposures will give better results than HDR.

HDR wouldn't have 'fixed' this photo as composed...the sky is dead and featureless, and just detracts from the image. Also looks like theres a bit of CA going on too. Practice more on proper composition, exposure, lighting, and shooting at the right time of day for the best light. Its not always possible, and sometimes you gotta take what you can get, but the golden hours are referred to as the 'golden hours' for a reason. Also, read up on exposing to the right.